今回の一時帰国は、６月に亡くなった母の４９日の法要と納骨のためでした。実際の４９日にあたるのは７月２７日でしたが、夫も参列出来るようにと法要は３０日（土曜日）に行われ、納骨は先日日曜日に行われました、４９日の法要は実家で行われましたが納骨は霊園のお墓の前で行われましたので、今年一番の暑さの中で（わたしはとても直射日光を浴びることは出来ないのでパラソルをさしていましたが）陽が当たるところは数秒で焦げそうな暑さでした。霊園にパラソルをお願いしましたが影はお墓とお坊さんにしかかからず、家族はほぼ直射日光を浴びる形で妹夫婦と弟は日本の喪服で直射日光を浴びながら。。。あっという間に陽に焼けていました。男性たちはネクタイに背広、さぞ暑かったはず、あそこまで必要？と思ってしまいます。
The reason why I went back to Japan this time was to attend 2 important services for my late Mother. In Japan, we have a special Buddhist service on the 49th day (or near the day) after a death and that was on the 27th July for my Mum. We had the actual service on the 30th (a Saturday) so my husband was able to attend as well, and it was done at my Mum’s (and my brother’s now) apartment. However, the other service was to put the ashes (bones) into the family tomb in the cemetery – and it was done naturally outside. The last few days of my stay in Japan were unbelievably hot. It wasn’t as humid as in Singapore but the sun was so strong, I thought my skin would burn black in a few seconds. I cheated, I didn’t wear my black jacket and wore just a black blouse, and used my black parasol, but my poor sister, her husband and my brother! They wore jackets, the guys wore black ties and had nothing to shield themselves from the burning sun. I did my best to share my parasol but it was’t very large. We did ask the cemetery to put up a large parasol (with an additional cost of course) but the shade was only on the tomb (did we need it there??) and on the priest.
お墓は箕面にあり、西宮にある実家から車で１時間程度なのですが、渋滞が激しいと３時間近くかかることもあるということでしたので３時間前に出て到着してから近くでお昼を食べようということになりました。夏休み中ですしお盆も近いので渋滞が心配でしたが、反対方面は渋滞していましたが実家から箕面に向けては大した渋滞もなく１時間で到着。
It usually takes about an hour from where we are to the cemetery in Minoo but my brother told us it has taken him about 3 hours when the traffic was very bad. It is summer holiday now and near the Obon (when people visit their ancestor’s cemeteries) so we left 3 hours before and planned to have lunch near the cemetery. Fortunately the traffic wasn’t heavy (it was on the other side) and it took us only an hour.
お昼は時間が読めず予約もできませんでしたので行き当たりばったり。目についた翔龍坊（しょうろんぽう、と読むようです）という中華のお店に入ってみました。手作り点心と宣伝していて飲茶のオーダー式バイキングが中心のようでした。日本の中華、それも飲茶。シンガポールでもついつい香港の飲茶と比べてしまって満足できないので、ファミレス風のお店の飲茶はどうだろうと心配でしたが他に案があるわけでもなく、近くにあった王将の方が程度がわかっているのでいいんじゃないかと提案してみましたが、妹はチャレンジしたい人なので翔龍坊に乗り気のようでしたのでチャレンジしてみることに。
We weren’t able to book any restaurant because we didn’t know how long it would take to get there so we just went in a restaurant we thought might be OK. We decided to try a Chinese place, whose speciality was supposed to be handmade dim sum. I was a bit sceptical and worried if it would be OK; I’m not that happy with dim sum in Singapore because I cannot help comparing them to those in Hong Kong – and in my opinion dim sum is the best in Hong Kong. This restaurant looked to be what we call “a family restaurant” – they are very casual and not-very-expensive restaurants that you can go to with your children.
ランチタイムのバイキングには肝心の小籠包が含まれていませんでしたので、単品で色々オーダーしてみることにしました。小籠包、焼き餃子、焼き小籠包、しゅうまい、エビチリ、麻婆ナス、麻婆春雨、ごま団子、杏仁豆腐。写真にはありませんが他に卵の焼き飯と普通のご飯１つ、ココナッツ団子もオーダーしました。
Most people seemed to be having the “all you can eat” lunch (you can order from their list as much as you want) but we decided to order from their main menu because they didn’t include Xiaolongbao in the list you can order as a part of their set menu at lunch time.
We had Xiaolongbao, baked Xiaolongbao, shiumai, prawn in chilli sauce, Ma Po aubergine, Ma Po vermicelli, sesame balls, and Annin Tofu. I didn’t take photos of them, but we also ordered egg fried rice, ordinary rice, and coconut balls.
飲茶系と一品料理をオーダーしたので最初に飲茶が出てくるかと思いきや、いきなりエビチリが出てきました。エビチリを食べた第一声は「なんじゃこれ？」で（笑）、エビチリとは随分違うお料理のように思いましたがエビはぷりぷりでそれなりに味は悪くなかったです（かなり甘かったですが）。小籠包の皮はいまひとつでしたし麻婆ナスもあまり辛くなく薄味だったり、本格的な中華とは別物という気がしましたが、どれも味自体は悪くなく、それなりに美味しくいただきました。杏仁豆腐は甘みが足りずシロップもついてこなかったので人気がなかったですが、他はまずまずのように思いました。（焼き小籠包は１つ取った後の写真で、実際は４つありました。
We expected to get dim sum first but the first dish arrived was prawn in chilli sauce. It was, I found, a strange sauce but not unpleasant. A little too sweet but it did taste good and the prawns were very fresh. Ma Po aubergine wasn’t very spicy but again tasted good. The Xiaolongbao skin was too thick, but again the taste was good. They all tasted good even though they may not be what I expected. The only thing that nobody seemed to like very much was Annin Tofu – it needed syrup or the Tofu needed to be sweeter.
４人でお腹いっぱいいただいて、７０００円前後だったと思います。単品でオーダーしてこのお値段なら悪くない気がしますね。
We were quite full by the time we finished and I think it was about 7,000 yen in total. Not bad.
納骨が終わって家に向かう途中で、あまりに暑かったのとわたしがかき氷を食べたいとずっと言っていたので、神戸屋でかき氷も食べました。本当は最近お友達がインスタグラムによくアップしているきな粉がかかったかき氷を食べてみたかったのですが、そういうちょっと特別なお店は日曜日で混んでいるだろうとここで我慢。大きかったので２人で１つずつ。わたしと弟はマンゴーソース、妹夫婦はイチゴミルク。
After the service in the cemetery, on our way home, we stopped at one of the “Kobe-ya” restaurants for shaved ice. I’ve been wanting to have ‘Shaved Ice with Kinako’ in Japan – it seems very popular recently – but it was Sunday and we thought any speciality cafe would have queues outside, so we settled with this. It cooled us down.
それにしても、暑い暑い１日でした。
It was such a hot day, we needed it!
翔龍坊
1 Chome-2-2 Aoshinke, Minoo, Osaka Prefecture 562-0024, Japan
Tel:+81 72-726-3498